Recreational Marjuana Sales Now Legal in Massachusetts

As of today, November 20th, adults over the age of 21 are able to legally purchase marijuana in the state of Massachusetts for the first time in over a century.

As noted by NORML, Massachusetts was the first state to enact marijuana prohibition — doing so on April 29th, 1911. Voters decided in favor of repealing the ban in November 2016. Now, two years later, multiple outlets have begun selling the plant to anyone who’s at least 21 years old.

“This signal to open retail marijuana establishments marks a major milestone for voters who approved legal, adult-use cannabis in our state,” Commission Chairman Steven J. Hoffman told Cannabis Now. “To get here, licensees underwent thorough background checks, passed multiple inspections and had their products tested, all to ensure public health and safety as this new industry gets up and running. As patrons look forward to visiting Massachusetts stores, we hope they will do their part by first familiarizing themselves with the law and understanding what is required of responsible consumers.”

Also today, Representative Joe Kennedy III, who has been a longtime opponent of legislation to liberalize marijuana laws, published an op-ed announcing that he’s now in support of legalizing marijuana on the federal level.

Kennedy writes, “Given the rapid pace of state-level legalization and liberalization, I believe we must implement strong, clear, and fair federal guidelines. To do that requires us to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and legalize it at the federal level.”